In yet another major escalation in its effort to re-shape the foundations of real estate, Compass filed a cascade of state-level ethics complaints Tuesday through 30 Realtor associations, at least 50 MLSs and real estate regulators across 26 states, targeting Zillow and focusing on allegedly misleading property designations on listings.
A source with direct knowledge of the effort told RISMedia that the complaints were legal in nature. A Compass spokesperson characterized the actions as “ethical complaints filed at the MLS, state and Realtor® association level,” but confirmed the number of states as 26, and MLSs as approximately 50. The complaints are ethics, MLS and regulatory based: ethics complaints are being filed with Realtor® associations, MLS complaints with MLSs and regulator complaints are with state regulators (Departments of Real Estate, Departments of Commerce, etc., depending on the state).
More specifically, the spokesperson said those complaints center on “the banning of listings and the false advertising around their display,” echoing allegations the brokerage has made publicly and in court regarding how portals—specifically Zillow—describe for-sale properties as “off market” when the listings are banned.
The Compass spokesperson specifically said these latest complaints relate to the “misleading consumer component” of that dynamic and said they were not aware of any actions filed in court, but did not provide other details.
“When sellers choose to publicly market their homes and make them available to the broadest possible audience, Zillow is keeping those listings from buyers because they were not initially prioritized on Zillow. In some cases, Zillow is displaying active, publicly available listings as not for sale,” the spokesperson told RISMedia in an email. “We believe this is false advertising that misleads consumers and keeps buyers from finding homes that sellers have intentionally made available to the market. Sellers should decide how their homes are marketed, and buyers deserve accurate information about what is actually for sale.”
A Zillow spokesperson said in an email to RISMedia that it’s “not surprising that Compass, a defendant in our federal antitrust lawsuit, is looking for additional venues to fight the same battle it’s losing in court.”
“Compass’ business model depends on keeping listings off the public market first, so they are the one limiting reach and later wanting Zillow to cover for their scheme. Agents who list publicly from the start reach every buyer on Zillow,” the statement continued. “When a home is shopped around privately to some buyers and listed to all buyers later, we don’t show that on Zillow because it’s not fair to millions of home buyers without insider connections. That’s not false advertising, it’s standing up for a fair and transparent housing market.”
The Zillow spokesperson added that the portal’s Listing Access Standards “are simple: if you’re marketing a home publicly, market it to everyone.”
“Buyers deserve to see every home for sale, and that’s not something we’re going to compromise on,” the statement concluded.
Zillow also noted that homes blocked from the platform are marked as “not available” vs “not for sale.”
The broad, local-level action comes as Compass, led by CEO Robert Reffkin, has spent the last two years crusading against various policies—enacted by Zillow, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) and many MLSs—that it claims limit “seller choice.” Aggressive acquisitions and partnerships have helped the company quickly upend norms and rules around “pre-marketing,” listing control and cooperation, and sent rivals scrambling to shore up their own data and market power.
Compass also penned an open letter back in March, requesting several MLSs change their policies to support phased listing distribution and cease punishments on agents for “seller-directed marketing plans.” The letter specifically called out ARMLS, CRMLS, FMLS, Georgia MLS, NWMLS, OneKey® MLS and Stellar MLS.
“We can no longer stand idly by while our real estate professionals face punitive actions for following duties to their clients. Compass International Holdings and Redfin are committed to defending our agents who are unfairly disciplined or penalized by an MLS for executing a seller-directed marketing plan,” the letter read.
This latest move, however, represents a somewhat novel approach by the mega-brokerage as it wages its larger war with Zillow, a new approach to the proxy campaign it has launched through MLS rules and structures.
The specific issue of Zillow showing properties as off-market because the portal chose not to display them (as listings previously marketed “privately”) has come up multiple times in lawsuits involving the two companies, but was not central to Compass’s allegations.
The focus on consumer harm also comes as states enact laws restricting or requiring disclosure for privately marketed properties, with critics saying these networks can negatively impact both sellers and buyers in the broader market. Compass continued to dispute this, saying its “3PM” marketing plan helps listings sell for more.
Back in 2024, Reffkin lobbied hard for NAR to change its 2020 rule requiring MLS submission (the Clear Cooperation Policy), with NAR eventually adding some “flexibility” while keeping the rule intact. But Compass and Reffkin were not satisfied, confronting Zillow in court after the portal enacted its own rules governing listings.
Around this time, Reffkin began referring to MLSs as a “monopoly,” and sued Washington-based Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), which is not affiliated with NAR and has its own restrictions on private marketing.
These moves were made in tandem with back-channel pressure on MLSs. Compass offered several listing services its “support” in exchange for “enforcing” a rule that would ostensibly cut Zillow off from listing feeds, and allow Compass’s private listing-focused marketing.
Another recent lawsuit, filed by Zillow as Chicago-based MRED accepted Compass’s offer and sought to cut the portal off from data feeds, revealed that Bright MLS, the nation’s largest, rejected Compass’s overtures. Reffkin subsequently told Bright CEO Brian Donnellan that he (and other MLSs) “sold us out,” adding he would not attend a Bright event scheduled for later this summer.
Associate Editor Claudia Larsen contributed to this reporting.
Editor’s note: the headline of this story was updated at 10:19 a.m. Eastern time to clarify that Compass filed complaints with MLSs and Realtor® associations, not against those entities.
